Lower Richland boys take down Richland Northeast in overtime thriller
Quenton Flood wanted a shot at redemption and delivered.
The Lower Richland junior hit a 3-pointer at end of regulation to tie the game against Richland Northeast and the Diamond Hornets took over in overtime to defeat the Cavaliers, 55-46, on Saturday in the second round of the Class 4A Upper State playoffs.
Lower Richland travels to Wren Tuesday in the third round. Wren defeated Travelers Rest, 103-78, behind Florida State commit Bryce McGowens’ 65 points.
“I just knew I had to come back and stick up for myself and make the shot,” said Flood, who finished with 11 points. “I wasn’t really worried (if they were going to foul). I just knew I had to make the shot.”
Flood’s 3-pointer came moments after he missed two free throws with 6.4 seconds left and Lower Richland trailing 39-38. Richland Northeast freshman Justin Johnson hit two free throws to put the Cavs up 41-38.
The Diamond Hornets advanced the ball to half-court before calling a timeout. Gaither then called a play designed for Flood in the corner.
“I kind of wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself,” Gaither said of Flood. “He missed two free throws in regulation that would have put us ahead. So, I wanted him to redeem himself and draw up a play up for from the gate. He really knocked that shot down under pressure. He showed a lot of maturity.”
In overtime, RNE led 44-43 on a three-point play by Calvin Hall. But Da’Jon Townsend and Melvin Archie hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Lower Richland up 51-46 with 1:10 left.
Townsend led LR with 14 points, Archie had 12 and Korey Richardson had 11.
The loss spoiled the homecoming for RNE coach JoJo English, a former Lower Richland and South Carolina standout. English is in his second season with the Cavs and they doubled their win total from a season ago and won their first playoff game in four seasons, defeating Blue Ridge on Wednesday.
Things looked good for RNE in the first half as they controlled the tempo and played strong defense to lead 22-14 at halftime.
But the Diamond Hornets started the second half with a 10-0 run and led 29-26 after three quarters. From there, the two teams went back and forth in the final quarter with no lead more than four points the rest of the way.
Amere Cherry and Hall led RNE with 11 points a piece.
“I told our guys this week this will be the hardest playing team we are going to face all year,” Gaither said. “We aren’t taking away from who we play in the future. But Richland Northeast, a Jo Jo English coached team, we know they are going to play disciplined and hard. They showed that tonight.”
LR: Melvin Archie 11, Huff 5, Quenton Flood 11, Dajon Townsend 14, Smith 2, Korey Richardson 11. RNE: Calvin Hall 11, Brown 8, Amere Cherry 11, Jordan Pratt 8, Marcus Anderson 5, Ernest Justice Johnson 3.
